On this page: Paternus – Patiscus – Patizeithes – Patricius

life of Paterculus, for there is no reason to believe that the P. Velleius or Vellaeus mentioned by Tacitus under A. d. 21 (Ann. iii. 39) is the same as the historian. Paterculus was alive in a. d. 30, as he drew up his history in that year for the use of M. Vinicius, who was then consul ; and it is conjectured by Dodwell, not without probability, that he perished in the following year (a. D. 31), along with the other friends of Sejanus. The favourable manner in which he had so recently spoken in his history of this powerful minister would be sufficient to ensure his condemnation on the fall of the latter.

The work of Velleius Paterculus which is come down to us, and which is apparently the only one that he ever wrote, is a brief historical compendium in two books, and bears the title C. Velleii Pater-culi Historiae Romanae ad M. Vinicium Cos. Libri //., which was probably prefixed by some gram­marian. The work was not only dedicated to M. Vinicius, who was consul in A. d. 30, but it ap­pears also to have been written in the same year, as has been already remarked. The beginning of the work is wanting, and there is also a portion lost after the eighth chapter of the first book. The object of this compendium was to give a brief view of universal history, but more especially of the events connected with Rome, the history of which occupies the main portion of the book, It com­menced apparently with the destruction of Troy, and ended with the year a. d. 30. In the exe­cution of his work, Velleius has shown great skill and judgment, and has adopted the only plan by which an historical abridgement can be rendered either interesting or instructive. He does not at­tempt to give a consecutive account of all the events of history ; he omits entirely a vast number of facts, and seizes only upon a few of the more pro­minent occurrences, which he describes at sufficient length to leave them impressed upon the recollec­tion of his hearers. He also exhibits great tact in the manner in which he passes from one subject to another ; his reflections are striking and apposite ; and his style, which is a close imitation of Sallust's, is characterised by clearness, conciseness, and energy, but at the same time exhibits some of the faults of the writers of his age in a fondness for strange and out-of-the-way expressions. As an historian Velleius is entitled to no mean rank ; in his narrative he displays impartiality and love of truth, and in his estimate of the characters of the leading actors in Roman history he generally ex­hibits, both discrimination and judgment. But the case is different when he comes to speak of Augus­tus and Tiberius. Upon them, and especially upon the latter, he lavishes the most indiscriminate praises and fulsome flattery. There is, however, some extenuation for his conduct in the fact that Tiberius had been his patron, and had advanced him to the honours he had enjoyed, and also from the circumstance that it would have been danger­ous for a writer at that time to have expressed himself with frankness and sincerity.

The editio princeps of the history of Paterculus was printed at Basel, in 1520, under the editorship of Beatus Rhenanus, from a manuscript which he discovered in the monastery of Murbach. This is the only manuscript of Paterculus which has come down to us ; and as this manuscript itself afterwards disappeared, all subsequent editions were neces­sarily taken from that of Rhenanus. till Orelli ob-

tained the use of a copy of the original manuscript as is mentioned below. The edition of Rhenanus was reprinted at Basel in 1546, and the most im­portant subsequent editions are those of Lipsius, Lugd. Bat. 1591, reprinted 1607; of Gruter, Francf. 1607 ; of Ger. Vossius, Lugd. Bat. 1639 ; of Boeclerus, Argent. 1642; of Thysius, Lugd. Bat. 1653 ; of Heinsius, Amstel. 1678 ; of Hud­son, Oxon. 1693 ; of P. Burmann, Lugd. Bat. 1719 ; and of Ruhnken, Lugd. Bat. 1789, which is the most valuable edition on account of the excellent notes of the editor. This edition was reprinted by Frotscher, Lips. 1830—1839. Of the editions after Ruhnken's we may mention Jani and Krause's, Lips. 1800 ; Cludius's, Hannov. 1815 ; Lemaire's, Paris, 1822 ; Orelli's, Lips. 1835 ; Kreyssig's, 1836 ; and Bothe's, Turici, 1837. Orelli collated for his edition a manuscript of Velleius, preserved in the public library of Basel, which was copied by Amerbachius, a pupil of Rhenanus, from the manuscript belonging to the monastery of Murbach. By means of this codex Orelli was able to introduce a few improvements into the text; but the text is still very corrupt, as the original manuscript abounded with errors, and was so faulty that Rhe­nanus tells us that he could take his oath that the copyist did not understand a word of the language. In illustration, see Dodwell, Annales Velleiani, Oxon. 1698, prefixed to most of the editions of the historian; Morgenstern, de Fide Hist. Velleii Pat. Gedani, 1798.

2. A friend of the younger Pliny, who has ad dressed three letters to him. (Ep. i. 21, iv. 14, viii. 16.) He may perhaps be the Paternus, whom Martial (xii. 53) satirizes as a miser.

3. Paternus also occurs in the Fasti as the name of several consuls, namely, in A. d. 233, 267, 268, 269, 279, and 443.

PATERNUS, TARRUNTE'NUS, a jurist, is probably the same person who was praefectus praetorio under Commodus (Lamprid. Commod. 4 ; Dion Cass. Ixxii. 5), and was put to death by the emperor on a charge of treason. He was the au­ thor of a work in four books, entitled De Re Mili- tari or Militariuin^ from which there are two excerpts in the Digest. He is also mentioned by Vegetius(De Re Militari, i. 8), who calls him. " Diligentissimus assertor juris militaris." Paternus is cited by Macer (Dig. 49. tit. 16. s. 7), who wrote under AlexanderSeverus. [G. L.]

PATISCUS, is first mentioned during Cicero's government of Cilicia (b. c. 51—50), where he ex­erted himself in procuring panthers for the shows of the aediles at Rome (Cic. ad Fam. ii. 11, viii. 9, 3). His name next occurs as one of those per­sons who joined the murderers of Caesar after the assassination, wishing to share in the glory of the deed ; and in the following year, b. c. 43, he served as proquaestor in Asia in the republican army. (Appian, B. C. ii. 119 ; Cic. ad Fam. xii. 13, 15.)

Q. PATI'SIUS, was sent by Cn. Domitius Cal-vinus into Cilicia in b. c. 48, in order to fetch auxiliary troops (Hirt. B. Alex. 34). It is not impossible that he may be the same person as the Patiscus mentioned above.